A New World
by WinterSoulstis
Summary: Aria wants to surpass her father and so she must be the best of the best. Shes lived with pokemon all her life; she's grown with them as much as they have with her. Originally from the Shin Region, Aria travels everywhere, making friends along the way. Eventually she ends up in Unova where she meets someone who makes her rethink her ideals as much as she makes him rethink his. NxOC
1. 1 - Evolution

**A/N: The first few chapters might be a bit boring since they're about how Aria meets her team and partners, and about the type of person she is, but it should pick up later. :D**

* * *

The little girl looked up at her father, violet eyes wide as if she could hardly believe it. "This is for me?" she questioned shyly, her grip tightening around the ball of brown fluff she cradled in her arms.

"You can't start your training yet," he said with a smile, "But it's never too early to start building up a friendship. Oh, and you're not getting any pokeballs yet, you might lose them." She stuck her tongue out at him but he only grinned wider before continuing, "So you're just going to have to keep a careful eye on her." The small brunette nodded eagerly, showing that she understood before dashing toward the front door on her way outside, she wanted to try training right away! However, her father's voice instantly caused her to change direction.

"Hang on Aria, did I mention that you only get to keep her if you figure out what kind of pokemon you're holding?" The look on her face clearly said he had not. "Well, you do. You've got until this time tomorrow or she's mine. Got it?" At his words Aria sprinted towards the small library her modest house held, almost crashing into a wall as she executed a sharp turn and slammed the door behind her.

The older man laughed aloud as he watched his daughter. She definitely had the spirit needed to set off on a grand journey in just a few short years. A crashing sound followed by a squeak caused him to raise an eyebrow. Well her heart was in the right place, but she needed more years of experience before he would even consider letting her leave home. Ah, his protective parentness was finally showing. He shook his head and set off to find someone who could cook dinner, if he tried then they'd have to move and buy a new house. Again. The last time had been an accident with his arcanine, but that was another story.

A few hours later, Vincent pushed open the large doors to the study and paused in the doorway at what he saw. There were large books everywhere, some open some not; they were strewed all over the floor and windowsills leaving barley any room to walk. There was also a large pile of books that looked like they had fallen off the shelves and no one had bothered to put them back. Another pile, this time of already used books, was right next to the little girl as she laid on her stomach quickly flipping through the pages of yet another large volume like she was on a mission.

The poor little pokemon was currently wriggling to break free of a mountain of bound pages that had fallen on top of her; a minute later she had freed herself with only her fur slightly ruffled. She looked towards Vincent, who was just standing at the door holding two trays of steaming food, before nudging Aria to get her attention. The girl ignored her, completely focused on trying to decipher the index to figure out where to look next. Not pleased about being ignored, the brown pokemon shoved herself under Aria's arm and came to rest on top of the book she was currently reading. Aria blinked.

"What is it?" she questioned, finally looking up.

"Dinner," her father responded, motioning to the plates he was still holding that had cooled down somewhat. Her stomach growled, causing her to look down at it, almost as if she had just noticed how late it had gotten. Vincent shifted one of the trays to free his right hand. He pushed aside several of the books that had been abandoned on the only desk there to make room for the food which he then set down. Aria and her new friend both rushed over eagerly.

The brunette was about to shove a spoonful of mashed potatoes into her mouth, but paused. She looked up at her father and innocently asked, "Did you make this?"

He feigned hurt at her skeptical expression and exclaimed, "I'm not that bad of a cook!" She just kept staring at him. "Alright maybe I am… Don't worry though; I got Marley to cook it." Aria frowned at it slightly, but ate nonetheless.

As the conversation carried on, the pokemon was pawing her own food as if to test it. She then sniffed it warily. Finally she decided that it was worthy and began to eat. Her large ears twitched as she kept them focused on what the humans were talking about; it wasn't the most entertaining of conversations, but she figured it was a good idea to get to know the people she would be living with. The little one was being no fun, she hoped this would change later on- after this bought of studying anyway. The old one seemed okay, but it didn't seem like he did anything exciting anymore and that would just be boring.

It didn't take long for her to finish eating. She pushed her plate aside and curled up: belly full and eyes drooping. However, she refused to fall asleep; if the little one was going to spend the night searching through books for her sake then the least she could do was stay up with her. Once the brunette had finished eating as well, the brown pokemon stretched herself out before hopping down from the desk and trotting over to the book they had last been looking at.

Vincent watched her for a moment with a grin before gathering up the dirty dishes and heading to the door. "I'll leave you alone now, don't stay up too late." With that said he closed the door behind him. Aria plopped herself back down on the floor and resumed her reading.

* * *

Vincent stifled a yawn. He reached for the remote and turned the TV off, wondering what time it was. Through the window it was pitch black; it must be late. How was Aria doing? Had she drifted off with her head in a book? That would be a cute sight; he smiled at the thought and headed back down the hall to see how she was doing. Quietly he stuck his head in to make sure not to wake her if she was sleeping. She wasn't. She was yawning every few minutes, but her spirit wasn't dampened in the slightest.

Aria shut the latest book with a thud and grabbed the next one. She quickly scanned the table of contents before flipping to around the middle of the book. Somewhere a clock chimed; they counted twelve chimes. The little girl looked up from the page she had just flipped to, shocked, "It's midnight?" She shook her head and with renewed determination started to read. She paused shortly thereafter. Her eyes went wide and she rubbed them to make sure her sleepiness wasn't causing her to hallucinate. "I found it," she said softly. The pokemon's ears twitched and she lifted her head off her paws to look up. Her father strained to hear what she was saying.

She repeated herself, ecstatic, "I found it! It's here!" The pokemon sprang to her feet and stared at the page. Sure enough, another one of her stared back. Aria swiftly stood with the book in hand and was ready to wake her father up if necessary. There was no need however, since he was once again hovering by the door.

"Dad!" she exclaimed, "I found her!" She flipped the book over so the pages faced him and happily pointed to the small picture. "She's an eevee!"

"Correct!" he told her, a wide grin gracing his features. "She's yours now, take good care of her. I'm sure you'll be great friends with your new eevee."

"It's Midnight," Aria corrected, placing the book down.

"My god it is late isn't it? Come on, we need to get some sleep; I'm sure you'll be very busy tomorrow," he said as he turned to leave.

"No," Aria said.

He paused and looked back towards her. "What do you mean "no"? You said it yourself, it's midnight."

The little girl shook her head. "It's Midnight. Her name. Her name is Midnight!"

Her father laughed. "What a way to name your pokemon! Well whatever works, but how does she feel about it?" The newly dubbed Midnight wagged her bushy tail; the name sounded just fine to her. "It's settled then! Welcome to the family Midnight!" Said pokemon gave a short and happy yip. She trotted up to both humans and gave a huge yawn before tilting her head slightly in a questioning manner.

"True enough; it is time for bed," he said. He stepped forward and picked up his exhausted little girl. She shifted to get more comfortable against her father's broad chest. Midnight made a noise of indignation; she looked up at them. Aria smiled sleepily and opened her arms; she took the invitation and jumped up.

Vincent looked down at the two girls in his arms and smiled softly as he trekked upstairs to tuck them in.

Over the years the two grew close. As Aria got older she found herself to be sort of a night owl: staying up late into the night and sleeping most of the day. Her eevee had little choice but to alter her own habits to match her owner's which led to an extraordinary event.

* * *

Aria grumbled to herself as she brushed aside yet another low hanging branch. She had planned on using a less travelled route as a shortcut but that proved to be a bad idea almost right away. Sadly, the first part of the route had been a muddy downhill slope that proved impossible to climb back up: not that she hadn't tried for a good half hour. Night had fallen almost an hour ago which was the reason behind the brunette's brisk walk right now. Her eevee was trotting alongside her, her fur was tangled and had twigs and leaves hanging at odd angles, but there was no time to fix it and make her more comfortable.

The girl let out a groan and plopped down on one of the, only slightly wet, rocks. The bottom of her black shorts became damp but she didn't care at this point. They were on a deserted forest route in the middle of the night so wet pants were the least of her worries. Now that they had finally stopped to rest after trekking through the woods for hours, Midnight took the time to paw off as many twigs as she could reach: her bushy tail was the worst.

The flashing of her digital watch brought Aria's attention to her right wrist. The red lights told her that it was currently 11:25pm. Instantly the girl jumped to her feet, startling her poor pokemon. "We have half an hour before the bridge goes up!"

The eevee gave her trainer a "I thought you said you were going to keep a close eye on the time" look, before taking off at a sprint to lead the way out of the forest they had been wandering in. Aria took off after her.

They leaped over logs, ducked under low hanging branches, and even sidestepped some unlucky pokemon that were taking a late night stroll. Aria's breath came in pants and her legs burned from the obstacle course they were forced to run, but if she stopped now they'd have to wait a month before the bridge was lowered again. A quick look at her glowing watch told her that they had less than twenty minutes left. They weren't going to make it; even at full speed they had yet to traverse half the distance needed. Midnight was ahead of her trainer but even she wasn't going to be fast enough; her small legs weren't made for speed. Thanks to the heavy rainfall the area had gotten in the last week the ground was still muddy which made a full on sprint all the more difficult.

With only five minutes to go, Aria found her legs give out from under her. She contacted hard with the ground and let out a cry of surprise more so than pain. She had slipped in one of the many mud puddles. Midnight made a motion to stop, but her trainer's voice forced her to reconsider, "Don't stop! Just make it to the bridge! Do whatever it takes to stop them from raising it!" The small pokemon looked back at Aria for a moment longer before continuing on.

Aria did her best to pick herself up as fast as she could. It was rather tricky considering she kept sliding around, but she eventually managed to stand back up. Ignoring her aching muscles and now uncomfortably muddy clothes, the brown haired girl started running again. It took her another five or so minutes to finally make it out of the forest. The sight before her was not encouraging; the large metal bridge was currently being raised. It wasn't even halfway up yet so there was still a chance! She almost tripped out of fatigue, but righted herself and kept going.

Before she could even reach the control booth however, the bridge began to lower itself again. Taking it as a sign of good fortune the brunette slowed to a jog until she came to a stop a few meters from the little room. Midnight had done it! If she wasn't so tired she would have jumped up and down in celebration.

A disgruntled employee backed out of the building with his arms raised in a peaceful gesture. Under the pale moonlight it took him a moment to make out the figure of a young teenage girl. "You," he said after taking notice of her, "Is this your pokemon?" He motioned into the control room. Aria nodded, figuring he was talking about her little eevee since she couldn't see into the dark room. "Well call it off will you?!"

At his words the girl titled her head to the side in a questioning manner. "Call her off?" she repeated. That didn't sound like her eevee, she was normally calm, a bit reckless at times but definitely not the type of pokemon that others would be scared off.

"Yes!" he cried, "Now hurry up!"

"Err…." She hesitated, was he really talking about _her_ pokemon? She shrugged, figuring it couldn't hurt to try. "Midnight, that's enough. You did a great job." The man grunted in response but Aria ignored him, "Come on out."

A bark responded to her words, but it didn't sound the same as usual. A lean figure emerged from the doorway. Large red eyes became visible, followed by several glowing yellow rings. "Midnight?" she questioned. The black pokemon repositioned her large ears and did a motion similar to a nod. Aria was at a loss for words. "You-," she started, trying to process everything, "You evolved!" Midnight gave a bark of approval and walked over to her trainer.

Aria dropped to her knees and hugged her new umbreon. She was ecstatic as she wrapped her arms around the evolved eevee who barked at her; apparently she had been squeezing her too roughly.

"I'm happy for you, really," the man said, not sounding happy in the least, "But can you hurry this up kid? I need to raise the bridge tonight and I'm already behind schedule." Midnight growled at his words. "Uh… of course that's _after_ you two cross."

"Thank you so much!" Aria said, beaming at him as she stood back up.

"Yeah, yeah," he brushed off her thanks looking somewhat uncomfortable. "You've got half an hour before I start raising it again, make sure to be on the other side by then unless you want some practice running down a 90o slope." The brunette nodded her understanding and took off, her umbreon followed closely behind.

* * *

"You know…." Aria started, twirling the straw of her drink absentmindedly, "I can still remember when you were an adorable little eevee." Midnight lifted her head off her paws to look up at her, wondering where her trainer was going with this. "I could hold you in my arms and I always had people telling me how cute and well behaved you were." She had a smile on her face as she reminisced about the past.

"And now…. Well now frankly you frighten people. Her smile had morphed into a smirk as she talked. The black pokemon nudged her disapprovingly. She laughed in response. "Oh don't be that way! You know that I love you!" To prove her point she reached down and petted her head. Midnight took the opportunity to grab the BLT that was resting, uneaten, on the table.

Aria blinked. "Oh now that's just mean!" she whined, "Where's my share?!" As a sign of good faith Midnight dropped the last bite of the sandwich into her outstretched hand. "Gee… thanks…" With a shrug she popped the food into her mouth and swallowed.


	2. 2 - Snow's Warning

**A/N: Time to introduce the next member of the team! :D Hope you guys aren't too bored :o I'm as anxious to get to meeting N as you are! Maybe... I might be more anxious.. ^-^;**

"What do you mean the closest gym is past the mountains?!" Aria exclaimed at the news she had just been presented with.

The woman rearranged a few more flowers before looking back up at the young trainer. "I'm sorry but it's true," she said as she concentrated her full attention on the girl before her. "The quickest route is straight through the mountains. It would take you at least a day to reach it."

"Well I guess I should stock up before I leave then," she mused. "What do you think? Some potions and a bunch of snacks?" Her questions were directed to the umbreon that always trotted along beside her, never inside her pokeball; as if never putting her pokemon in her ball wasn't enough to draw strange looks, talking to her as if she was a person sure did, good thing Aria didn't care what anyone thought.

The florist was yet another person who looked at the girl oddly. She frowned for a moment before figuring what she had to say was more important than a strange girl. "Yes well, you can't cross the mountains right now."

"Eh?! Why not?!" Aria questioned, not pleased with the news she was hearing in the slightest.

"You arrived in town in the fall." The brunette raised an eyebrow. From what she had heard along the road, anytime but winter was a fine time to be in Whilst Village since it was so close to the large Hunder Mountains. Realizing that what she said made no sense, the older woman decided to clarify. "Normally this would be a fine time to cross but the weather has been acting up lately. It's been getting colder earlier and earlier every year. From what I've heard there are storm warnings up for the next couple weeks.

Midnight gave a bark of irritation causing Aria to look down at her. "We have the worst of luck don't we? First there was that whole bridge incident a few months ago and now this?" She ran a hand through her sideways bangs as she contemplated. "Should we risk crossing?" Her umbreon stared up at her and Aria stared back, trying to read her friend's expression. With a sigh, she gave up. "Yeah you're going to have to be more clear than that," she stated.

The pokemon did not look impressed by her lack of understanding. To make her message clearer she walked over to the beginning of the route that led into the mountains.

"Are you sure?" she asked, "If we get caught up in that storm we might die..." Midnight didn't budge. Aria chuckled. "You're just as stubborn as me. Oh alright, you win. This time." She then turned to the woman and said, "Seems like we're going."

"Oh, no! It's too dangerous!" The florist exclaimed, "Just put your pokemon back into its ball and then choose a nice place to stay until the storms pass."

"No, it looks like I'll be leaving soon," she responded and then quickly added "Oh I'll be fine, don't worry about me," when she noticed the look on the woman's face.

The older woman didn't look convinced, but figured that this random teen wasn't her problem and so her parting words were, "Well, as long as you're careful and we don't see _that_ pokemon again, I'm sure you'll be fine."

"That pokemon?" the brunette echoed, but the other woman had already gone back inside her store and didn't hear a thing.

"What did she mean by, "that pokemon"?" she questioned out loud. No one answered her so she simply shrugged and went on her way.

The young trainer went to several shops to get all the necessary supplies they would be needing. She used her hard won money to buy several potions and food for both her and her pokemon as well as a warm winter coat since her current attire of a short blue vest overtop a purple tanktop and black shorts weren't really mountain climbing material. She would have bought pants too but she only had so much money and she still needed to save some for a place to sleep for the night. At least her knee high black boots would cover up most of what her puffy mid thigh length jacket didn't.

A few hours later Aria was comfortably lying on her bed inside the small motel room she had rented; she lay on her stomach and prodded the tiny form of her pokeballs. When they were as big as a chestnut instead of their usual baseball size it became even harder to imagine that inside of them were living pokemon.

Although she counted all the pokemon she caught as important, there were some that she favoured above the rest and those were the ones she kept with her; they were also the ones who she branded with nicknames. Currently she was playing with Breeze's ball. Vaguely, she wondered if Breeze was tumbling around inside as she rolled it; with those thoughts in mind she scooped them all up and reattached them to them to their designated spots on her belt. Sadly, her belt only had so much room so any unnicknamed pokemon, sometimes even the ones with names, she had to send to one of the several unoccupied houses her father owned where they were looked after by some family friends.

A loud crash brought the brunette out of her thoughts. "Midnight!" she groaned as she looked towards the source of the noise. While stretching, her umbreon had bumped into the nightstand and had sent the lamp that was on it tumbling to the floor where it rested in several pieces. "I'm running out of money as it is, did you really have to add another expense to the list?" Ignoring her, Midnight brought over a garbage can and began to nudge the pieces into it in an effort to clean up after herself. Aria sighed. "Why can't you just rest in your ball like a normal pokemon?" Although she had asked the question, she already knew the answer. It stemmed back to when she had first met Midnight. Her father had deemed her too young to own any pokeballs and so he always kept the little eevee out so that they could play together. For over a year they lived that way and once Aria was actually handed the pokeball it just didn't seem right to put her close friend inside it. Years later Midnight took it for granted and made a fuss whenever she was asked to actually go into it; depending on the situation however, sometimes she would actually listen, though it was rare.

After the lamp was cleaned up to the best of her ability, Midnight trotted over to the small twin bed, hopped up, curled up, and then closed her large crimson eyes. Aria watched her for a moment before she too prepped herself to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Aria was woken by a commotion outside. She sat up, still sleepy, and tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes. Once she opened them again, the first thing she noticed was Midnight. The umbreon was staring out the window, ears perked and listening. "What is it?" Aria asked; it was too early in the morning for this racket. A look at her watch read 8:03am, which confirmed her words. Midnight barked, probably replying to her question. With a yawn, the girl crawled out of bed and headed to where her partner was standing.

Outside the window some of the townspeople she had met yesterday were gathering near the exit of the village. By the little she could make out through the glass, their voices sounded angry or agitated. The pokemon walked over to the door, raised herself onto her hind legs, and pushed down on the door handle. It opened. She then ran outside and shoved her way through the crowd that had formed. Sometimes giving Midnight as much free reign as she did ended badly, Aria hoped this wasn't one of those times. She took off after her, partly because she didn't want any trouble, and partly because she was curious as to what was going on.

At least half the village seemed to be there and none of them looked very happy. "Excuse me," Aria started, but she was ignored. After several tries with several different people she gave up and just did her best to make her way through them until she came out at the front. Midnight was already there and so was the florist from the day before. "What's going on?" she asked, hoping she would be heard this time.

"Oh it's you," the woman said distractedly as she continued to stare in front of her. "It's a good thing you haven't left yet. You just missed it, it came down again. That damn pokemon is causing trouble again!"

"What pokemon? What's going on?" Aria questioned, looking around and hoping, in vain, that she might still catch a glimpse of said pokemon.

A different villager spoke up this time, "It's the same pokemon that comes down from the mountains at least once a year to cause harm. Every time it comes down something bad happens, either an avalanche or our crops fail or other things like that."

"You think that this pokemon actually causes these things to happen?" she asked, curiosity peeking. Anything to do with pokemon was always a topic of interest to her, especially when it came to the different kinds of pokemon out there or their abilities. She hadn't heard of a pokemon that caused things like that to happen, but if there were pokemon that could control the weather or evolve differently depending on where or how they were trained, why couldn't there be one that caused disasters? Midnight growled at her words which caused Aria to blink. Midnight rarely ever growled at her. What she would give to be able to understand what she was saying but, sadly, that was impossible.

Annoyed that her trainer wasn't getting the message, the umbreon ran forward and disappeared further down the trail. "Midnight!" the brunette called out after her, but received no response. She had originally offered to carry Midnight inside her pokeball for this part of the trip so that she wouldn't have to go through the long trek through the mountains and snow but she had blatantly refused and by now Aria had learned that force rarely got anything out of Midnight, so she just let her do what she wanted most of the time. Other people might say that that was bad training, but she didn't care. It worked for her and her relationships and that was all that mattered. However, there were times when Aria found herself wishing that she was just like any other pokemon trainer; this was one of those times. Grumbling, she ran back into her room, grabbed her bag, hastily put on her coat, and set off after her reckless pokemon.

At her retreating back several people shouted after her. They said that it was too dangerous and that there were storm warnings in effect. They said that since they had just seen the pokemon that she would be an idiot to try to cross the mountains now. They claimed that one untrained pokemon wasn't worth her sacrificing her life. Aria ignored them.

About ten minutes later, she finally caught up with the stubborn eevee evolution. "Midnight!" she said, "You have to talk to me! Why are you acting this way?" Her umbreon barked but they both knew that it was pointless; no matter how much she barked, a human like Aria would never be able to understand her.

That one sided conversation was the last that they had for a while. Less than fifteen minutes later a full blown snowstorm had started to rage and any attempt at communication was drowned out by the whirling winds. The temperatures easily reached into the freezing range and Aria found that her feather filled coat wasn't enough to keep her warm. Visibility was severely limited and the young trainer found herself thanking the gods that Midnight's fur stood out so well against the pure white snow.

The minutes dragged out into hours and by now they were hopelessly lost and freezing. With every step Aria took she could feel her energy draining; each step was more tiring than the last. Not long after, her legs gave out and she collapsed into the thick snow. She was so numb already that the frozen water no longer felt cold on her reddened face. She was so tired that she couldn't move another inch, and frankly, she didn't want to. All she wanted to do was sleep. Already her eyelids were drooping; at least in her dreams she could leave this frozen wasteland.

Midnight was just slightly better off than her trainer, at least she had fur all over her body. She was also growing weaker, but she was also stubborner. She refused to succumb to a measly storm, even if she could barely keep her head above the snow. Over the rushing winds, Midnight's large ears barely picked up a soft thud. She turned around and instantly rushed to her collapsed friend's side. With little options left since Aria wouldn't respond no matter what she tried, the umbreon bit into the puffy jacket and began to use her remaining strength to drag the limp body inside a cave she had barely managed to notice a little ways back.

Once inside the cave, she wanted to stop to rest but she knew there was more work to be done. Gently, she nudged Aria until the girl was somewhat curled up and then rummaged underneath her coat until she grasped the yellow belt that she always wore and pulled it free. Midnight carefully examined each pokeball until she had a good idea about who was in which one. With her paw she pressed the release buttons on two pokeballs. She felt bad about bringing them out in this type of weather but there was no way around it. Out of the balls emerged a large black dog with horns and a big, mostly brown, bird; they were known as Law and Breeze.

Thanks to her keen eyesight, Breeze immediately noticed the unconscious girl. "How could you let it get this bad?!" she cawed, hints of panic as well as anger evident in her voice.

"It wasn't supposed to turn out this way!" Midnight snapped.

"You were the only one with her! Who else can I blame then?!" She ruffled her feathers and her pitch increased in anger.

Midnight was about to retaliate, but was interrupted. "Enough!" Law barked, annoyed at what he deemed to be childish arguing. The two pokemon remained glaring at each other, but fell silent. "I don't want to stay in this cramped space longer than necessary, so just say what you want with us."

"As much as I hate to ask," Midnight started, grinding her fangs, "I need your help."

"Well what a surprise," Law said, rather amused considering the situation, "It's rare for you to do something like that."

"As if I don't know that," she growled, but then shook her head and forced herself to keep at it. "I need you to make a fire, keep her warm any way you can," she instructed the houndoom before turning to the one she had been arguing with less than a minute ago. "And you and I are going to scout out the area to see if there's a better shelter or a more permanent way to keep warm, like logs or something."

"Normally I wouldn't listen to you," Breeze stated, "But I'm going to have to make an exception. This is for Aria, so don't get the wrong idea."

"Don't worry, this moment of truce will be our little secret."

Law nodded his affirmation before settling down beside his trainer and starting to puff out a steady stream of flame from his mouth. Midnight braced herself before heading back out into the storm. Breeze had to hop outside before she had enough room to spread her wings to take flight. The winds gave her a tough time but she managed to rise up into the air. The snow made it extremely difficult to see but thanks to her amazing eyes she managed to make out the treeline and dived down towards it.

Midnight was buffeted by the storm but did her best to shake it off. It didn't take long for ice to start forming on her fur coat and for her limbs to ache, but she couldn't stop now. She had to do this: for Aria. They had only begun their journey a year ago, it couldn't end like this! They had so many more regions to explore and friends to meet! The black pokemon narrowed her eyes as she forced her way through the snow that was steadily getting higher. A few minutes later she was broken out of her repetitive trance by a cracking sound. She froze. She slowly stared down at her feet as her ears dropped. The last thing she did was curse her luck before the ice underneath her paws broke and she tumbled into the cold water. She blacked out soon afterwards.

* * *

Red eyes watched a brown shape dive into the forest. She had never seen that particular pokemon in this area before, something strange must be going on. Stretching slightly, the pokemon stood up and followed the brown bird. She hoped from rock to rock as she followed it. She watched as the harsh conditions eventually got to it; a particularity strong wind forced the poor creature into a tree. It fell to the ground shortly thereafter. The pokemon jumped onto a small cliff and watched from above as the bird struggled to get up again. She was glad that her white fur allowed her to blend into her snowy surroundings; she figured that that pokemon didn't want any surprises at the moment considering how ruffled it already looked. A moment later the bird got up and forced itself into the air once again, but not without a souvenir; the branch it had crashed into had fallen off and it was now clutched in its talons. The white pokemon wondered what it could be for so she followed it again.

She followed the bird out of the forest and back towards a tiny cave with a constantly flickering light. Curiosity was getting to her and she wanted to see what was going on inside, but she knew better than to butt into other people's business; especially if there was a human in there. Even though all she wanted to do was help, the humans always chased her out of their village whenever she went down to warn them of impending disasters. At least they refrained from going into the mountains, even if they did blame her for everything bad that happened. She wasn't the cause of course, but it didn't matter to her what they thought of her; at least the humans were safe.

With great effort, the pokemon turned away from the mouth of the cave and began to head back to her home. She paused when she caught sight of a black figure struggling against the snow. She watched it for a moment until it suddenly disappeared and didn't resurface. Fearing the worst, and knowing full well the dangers of the mountains, she rushed over to where she had last seen the shape.

She came to a halt at a crack in the ice that covered what used to be a large lake. Every winter it froze over but it was quite lovely in the spring. Gazing down into the water she saw a sinking black figure. Grinding her fangs the pokemon braced herself and dived in. The water was freezing and even with her thick fur she found her energy depleting rapidly and the chill setting in. She had to get to that pokemon quickly. Annoyingly enough, her claws were made for climbing, not swimming; the trek was difficult but finally she managed to grab the pokemon by the scruff of its neck and pull them both to the surface. Frankly, she was amazed she had managed to pull it off but it was no time for celebration. They were both soaking wet and the storm showed no sign of slowing.

The white pokemon thought quickly before coming up with the idea of heading back to the lit cave she had seen earlier. She prayed that the human who was using it was kind to pokemon.

Several minutes later her sharp claws scrapped against the rocky floor of the small cavern. That noise and another shuffling sound alerted the presences she could sense inside.

* * *

Law stopped his flame just long enough to talk with the friend who had just returned. "Are you alright? You look pretty beaten up."

The pigeotto dropped the branches she had gather and shoved them into the centre of the room. "Can you just light the fire," she commanded, perching herself down to rest. "I'm exhausted and that brat will have our heads if she comes back and we didn't accomplish anything."

A barking laugh escaped the houndoom's throat, but it was quickly cut off. "Who's there?" he bark, getting into a fighting stance. From the entrance, two drenched and half frozen pokemon emerged. One was white with dark skin and strong red eyes while the other was black with faintly glowing rings; it was Midnight! "Damn it," Law growled, "What happened?!"

"This isn't my doing," the strange pokemon stated, a weary tone to its voice. "I saw your friend go down and decided to help out. I'd rather not ask for anything in return for a good deed, but in the state I'm in now I can't make it back to my home. Can I rest here for a while?"

Breeze sized up the worn out pokemon before her. Underneath the soaked fur she could make out lean muscles, and although it lived in such a harsh environment it still looked fit and strong: a deadly opponent to be sure. However, in its current condition, Law could easily take it out, she would do it herself, but only after she got some sleep. After a moment she finally said, "Of course! We can't turn you away after all your help. Sorry our idiot friend was such a burden. Just put her down somewhere."

The pokemon thanked her as she put Midnight's limp body gently down beside her trainer and then seated itself down near the entrance to give the friends a respectable amount of room.

Law watched the newcomer intently for a moment before using his ember attack to set the somewhat damp kindling ablaze.

As the warmth spread throughout the room the tired pokemon found themselves relaxing. Breeze rested her head on the hard ground and finally allowed herself to close her eyes. Law could finally stop breathing fire and rest his tired throat. He curled up next to Aria, who had warmed up considerably since the fire had first started. She was now sleeping more peacefully, her breathing less laboured. The white rescuer placed its head on its paws but also kept one eye open and watching.

Midnight began to stir. Her large crimson eyes slowly opened and blinked a few times before everything came back into focus. "What happened?" she groaned as she forced her stiff muscles to unbend. "Is Aria okay?"

The newcomer hummed in wonder causing the rest of them to look at it. "I've always admired the dedication that captured pokemon have to their trainers, but I just don't understand it," it said.

"What do you mean?" The umbreon questioned as she walked over to her trainer and softly nudged her to make sure she was okay. Aria twitched slightly. That slight movement brought a warm smile to the pokemon's face.

"It's just..." the white pokemon started, "You were captured against your will right? So why do you try so hard to defend you captor? Why not just let her die and be done with servitude?" Several outraged growls met its words.

Breeze was the one who deigned to answer. "I suppose it must seem strange," she mused with a chuckle. "I was against the whole idea at first too. I couldn't believe I had let myself get caught and was condemned to a life with no true freedom. But I soon found myself eating my own words. I grew to love the girl that caught me. She's one in a million, and I'm truly glad that she's my trainer."

"Love, huh?" it echoed, appearing in deep thought.

* * *

Everything was fuzzy and everything hurt, specifically her head. There were sounds all around her: a variety of barking and cawing. As she finally remembered where she was and what she had been doing, she forced herself to sit up. The sudden action startled her black friend.

Midnight jumped back, but soon barked in excitement and tackled her trainer. Several other barks and and a shrill whistle sounded as well. Aria laughed and hugged her friend tightly. "I'm so glad you're okay Midnight," she said. "I was certain we finally bit off more than we could chew. Sadly, I'm yet to be proven wrong."

At her words a larger black shape bounded up to her and placed a hard paw on her face. She looked up and became shocked. "Law?" she questioned. "What are you doing out?" After a quick look around she added, "And Breeze too? And... who's this?" Her gaze fell on the white furred pokemon with the sharp claws and the fierce red eyes.

The unidentified pokemon stood and made for the exit, figuring this was a good time to leave. Before it could take a step outside, Aria called out to it. "Wait! Absol, please!" Said pokemon paused and turned to look at the human. Aria continued. "Why do I get the feeling like I owe my life to you?" Midnight barked. "Oh? _We_ owe our lives to you."

The absol inclined its head and turned to leave once again, but this time was stopped by the pigeotto. She stood in front of the exit and cawed a few times. Law and Midnight added something in as well.

Aria watching in fascination for a while before speaking up again. "I think me and my friends have the same idea," she said with a smile. "We're hoping you could join us." The absol looked between them in interest. "You're obviously kind and strong, and I just know we can be great friends. So what do you say?" The pokemon hesitated.

"I won't force you if you don't want to, after you helped us, I owe you at least that much. However, if you came with me then I could repay you way better!" She finished with a sincere smile. The white pokemon regarded them all closely and began to pace. The other pokemon added their own thoughts into the mix before the absol barked to quiet them down. It stared straight into Aria's purple eyes as if sizing her up. A moment later it barked and nodded. The girl felt like her chapped lips would split from all the smiling, if they hadn't already.

Aria stretched out her hand in a welcoming gesture and signalled the absol to come closer. It did so. Her large smile fell into a smaller, warmer smile. "Thank you," she said as she petting its head and brought it into a hug. "You're our snowy rescuer."

* * *

"Midnight!" Aria cried, "Give me back my sandwich!" Said umbreon merely stared at her as she chewed on the tasty BLT. The young trainer pouted. "You're so mean!"

An absol raised her head as the scene unfolded. Aria had gotten up out of her seat and had actually begun to chase her pokemon around the patio in an attempt to get her meal back. The white pokemon had been rather comfortable as she slept but that was now over. They were causing such a racket that even the restaurant's other patrons were watching them with different expressions. The absol got to her feet and stretched. She watched her friends run around a bit more before taking action.

A white blur jumped in front of Midnight, causing her to skid to a halt. Before she could even register what had happened, the sandwich was pried out of her mouth. She blinked her large crimson eyes a few times to try to register what had just happened.

The absol trotted up to her trainer and placed the still rather complete sandwich in her hand. Aria grinned and gave her friend a one armed hug. "Looks like you're still coming to my rescue even now. Thanks again Snow!"


End file.
